Dexter loves to look at type, more than all the cute animals, vehicles, or other traditional baby stuff. I find it a bit odd, but hey - he's born of two designers, so maybe he'll be a natural. Six weeks surely isn't too early…
I've been busy truly working. There hasn't been a day this week that I didn't have to work at least a little bit. I'm a bad boss to myself considering this is my maternity leave, but everyone is working overtime and I wanted to help ease some pressure on Mr. Cobra. He's been up early and working late in order to spend time with my parents. We dropped my parents off at the Amtrak station early Tuesday morning. Things have calmed down a bit, but I had to put in nearly a full day in yesterday. Our site was linked up in a million places because we just released our demo reel and we've gotten so much traffic that we've smoked through our bandwidth for the month. I'm the only one with the free time to migrate everything over to a new host. I also handle a lot of the business purchasing and billing, so I'll continue to be busy. I was planning on starting to work part-time again in October. It's a little early, but I'm needed at Cobra HQ. If Dex is asleep, I'll do what I can.
So for the blog update - there is sooo much to post that I'm going to break it up a bit. This one's all about Dex and I've been working on this for four days now and am FINALLY posting it at 2am.
Dexter is growing so fast! He had his check-up last week and now weighs a whopping 10lbs 6oz and is 22 inches long. He also had his first vaccination that I've seen him get. It was heart-breaking to watch. He was already a bit fussy from getting checked over, so he had his mouth open mid-cry when the needle went in. It was like he was so surprised he couldn't move and just started building up to scream. He just laid there for what seemed like eternity with his mouth open mid scream, not even breathing. He was turning purple he was so mad. I finally told him, "Breathe Dex! Breathe!" and he let out the loudest, most pitiful wail. His little chin was quivering and he had real tears in eyes, something I've never seen before. It took him a while to calm down, but he eventually did. He gets more shots in a couple weeks. I'm not looking forward to that.
There is a huge difference in Dex in the 9 days that my parents came to visit. He's smiling at more than just me. He started cooing and "talking" when he's content or sees something he likes. He makes just the cutest little noises and waves his little arms and kicks his feet, you can't help but smile. He even sang one night and Mr. Cobra and I joked that he could be a heavy metal singer.
He's awake for several hours at a time now. He is so aware of his surroundings. He loves to be propped up in sitting position to take everything in. His giant blue eyes just stare at anything bright or high contrast. His eyes track really well, but he doesn't yet look at what YOU want him to look at. If you show him something, he'll just look at whatever he's been looking at the last minute. Maybe he's stubborn?
The oddest thing happened though when we took my parents and Dex to Muir Woods to look at the redwoods. Dexter LOVED the trees. We'd never expected him to be so awake and alert. He was "talking" to the trees and was so wide-eyed, looking around for at least a couple hours. The stroller didn't even put him to sleep like it usually does. We're gonna be taking him hiking as soon as things calm down at Cobra HQ.
He's sleeping well at night for longer and longer stretches. It scares me a bit to wake up after a 4+ hour stretch after 2 and 3 hours being the norm, but he's doing it without any help from me. It did wreak havoc on my milk supply though. I was so engorged I had to buy a pump to get some relief. I was about an hour away from home and I seriously was wondering if it was possible for my boob to pop. Poor Dex kept choking because the milk was coming out so fast. When I finally got the pump all together and started pumping - it was the weirdest feeling. I felt a bit like a dairy cow while watching the milk come out. I honestly started to laugh. The pump came in handy though, while my parents were in town, because I was able to pump a bottle and then we could go anywhere. I'm too damn modest to nurse in public. I shouldn't be, but it makes me uncomfortable showing some skin. It's my own hang-up and has nothing to do with anyone else's opinion. I've done it a few times, but I like giving him a bottle better. Mike also has the opportunity to feed him now.
He's holding his head up really well now too. The head butts are getting fewer and farther in-between, but probably more vicious - just ask Mike's tooth. It left a mark on Dex's eyebrow. Thankfully, it won't be long before it's not wobbly at all.
